大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Ruby Jordan & Etta Dobson & Dora Hughes, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview was by Deirdre Donnelly, and transcription was by Bruce Logan.

Ruby
====
When the war broke out, it was a Sunday morning and we were in church. Of course, people came in late, whispering to one another that the war had started. 鈥淥h dear鈥�, you see?
It was dreadful, because our brother was in the Royal Engineers. My mother was very very upset about my brother. He was only 17, for he had forged his age and gone in when he was 16. my mother used to blame this man, saying 鈥渉e took my wee鈥檜n over to the barracks for to get the King鈥檚 shilling!鈥�
Apparently they got a shilling then, and it was the King鈥檚 shilling, it wasn鈥檛 the queen.
My sister had just married. Our oldest sister, 38, her husband had been a soldier and he was on the reserve, and she went to live in Woolwich when he got a job in Woolwich Arsenal.
The next thing was, Kate was coming home because he was called up at the beginning of the war. And he was in the Royal Ulster Rifles. She came home, because she was having her first little baby. I was a month off my 13th birthday, and Billy was born in October. I was 13 that same month.

Dora
===
I do, couldn鈥檛 forget it. It made a great difference to everybody. A lot of the young men went away, never came back. We were all grown up, we weren鈥檛 very sophisticated. Factory was the only work in Derry. My brother was in WW1, and then he joined up in ww2, and was out in the desert. A lot of the territorial boys here was out too. But Derry wasn鈥檛 as prosperous then as it is now. It was more like a village then. And Fountain St, I think was the heart of it. We all knew each other, and families grew up together.

I was working in the factory since I was 15, earning 5 and 9p a week. I gave my mother the 5 bob and kept the 9p. I was up and down the Strand 4 times a day! Then of course I joined the ATS, and was away nearly 5 yrs. Army Territorial 鈥� WATS 鈥� Womens鈥� Army Territorial Service.
I tried to drive a truck, but my legs wouldn鈥檛 reach. We were moved around a lot. I was in some barracks in England, but mostly in NI.
You think it鈥檚 very romantic, the uniform and that. Everyone was willing to do their part, to join. Just because there was a war, and we wanted to join up.

Ruby
====
Not so much changed. There was quite a lot of activity. A great big RN truck came up Albert street. In those days it only had to be an ambulance and everybody ran after it. So the street was packed with people, and the sailors jumped out and there was a Petty Officer. He was looking for billets for these sailors, who were waiting for their ships to come into the quay. They were looking for people to take them in.
Of course, my mother, it seems Dora鈥檚 and my father was taken POW at the Somme. But he also joined up in WW2, so then my brother and brother-in-law were going. We had a sort of a spare bedroom, and my mother decided to take 2 sailors. We thought this was absolutely romantic. 2 sailors, lovely wee hats. And their collars 鈥� if you touched their collars it was for luck. And we got a Taffy, a Welshman called taffy Howard, and we got a Scotsman called Jock Howie. Of course, I was the wee message girl because she was working, and taffy would have give you the shoes off his feet but the wee Scotsman was as tight as a drum. Wouldn鈥檛 even give you a wee hapenny for going to the shops. Wouldn鈥檛 give you a bar of chocolate. But anyway, we did keep them and they were very good, right enough. My mother fed them well, when she tried to. We used to have a shop on the street named McEwars, who were very v good people. And she used to hide the onions under the bed upstairs. She knew who her favourite customers were, and she used to keep an onion for my mother. We had nothing 鈥� no bananas 鈥� without some coupons for that.
We used to come up past memorial hall, there were soldiers stationed there. There were sandbags all round it. And we just done it for badness. Every night we鈥檇 come up and thay鈥檇 say 鈥淗alt, who goes there?鈥�
We thought it was great, because it was soldiers.

Anyway, she was in the Star Factory, my sister. She got me a job in the Star. And I found myself making epaulets for the army, and we used to make sailors鈥� kit too: hats, shirts and shorts.

I couldn鈥檛 wait to dance, and get out to the boys and all the carry-on. We used to go to the Foresters Hall to learn to dance. Then we progressed to the big halls. She loved the Corinthian, I loved the Britannia because it was only 6p to get in. I earned 7 and 6 a week. We got out an hour for your dinner. And work on a Saturday morning as well. My mother got 7 shillings and I kept 6p. Of course, you鈥檇 be out all week anyway. We used to walk the town a lot. Carlisle road especially, and the craic was always good.
Then we would go up to the dance. We couldn鈥檛 afford to go early, they would let you in for the last dance. The sailors, the USMC and the soldiers and all came in. I remember having a date with 2 sailors in 1 night. One was at Bishopsgate, the other was down at the jail, so I went down to see which was the best. So I picked the best-looking one. We had some good fun after that, but the fighting was awful. Chairs and all used to be flying. I thing there鈥檚 a true saying about them 鈥� overdressed, or whatever it was, and over here. They had plenty of money.

They were nice enough to kids 鈥� the yanks. They gave our wee billy big slabs of chocolate on the bus one day.
On Friday night I saw us walking to Lynch鈥檚 of Muff to buy dresses.
Seer-sucker material.
We hadn鈥檛 hardly any money.
We used to swop dresses in the Star factory.

[Was there any carry-on in the factory?]
I put notes in and got letters from sailors
Your name and address inside the pocket or the collar.
We did the RAF shirts.
I put wee things saying 鈥渨ould you like to write to 鈥� they wrote back. I remember one fellow who went down on the Hood or some ship 鈥� I wrote to him. He was from Scotland.
There was an air raid shelter in our street - that air raid shelter, one bomb and we鈥檇 have been all gone.
I came home with a sailor one night. He tried to be funny and I ran and tripped over the bin. My sister鈥檚 husband came out and chased him down the Fountain. Kate鈥檚 husband wouldn鈥檛 have let anyone catch us.

We walked the strand.
There wasn鈥檛 many places to go.
The Lonely Hearts club was where the sailors and girls went. It鈥檚 where the GPO is now.
When I worked in the star we went up Bishop St to the chemist, Mr Campbell
We bought a bottle of 鈥淐alifornia Perfume鈥� to go out friday night.

We went to the Yankie dances too.When the Canadians took it over we loved the picture shows 鈥� the music would play and the words would come up on the screen and you鈥檇 sing along - 鈥淒on鈥檛 sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me鈥�

We were at the Corinthian one night. USMC came in, and didn鈥檛 get on with the RN. There was a big fight. We went out, down the Strand to a caf茅, the Red Rooster.
My father was waiting, my mother said 鈥測ou鈥檒l get it tonight! He鈥檚 heard you were down the Strand.鈥�

A woman on our street, Mrs Malloy, got us tickets for the RAF dances in the Guildhall. They were great, we always used to enjoy them. The craic was good.
We came out one night, up Shipquay St, and the next thing we knew the yanks chased us up the street.

Mrs Gaunt on Howard St, she used to light a candle to go out in blackout.
The warden shouted 鈥淧ut out that light!鈥�
It kept blowing out on her, the poor crittur!

This other neighbour went out, walked into everything. She had black eyes and all. One night she tripped and caught this man by the 鈥渇ork鈥�, as we used to say in them days.
鈥淚n the name of god Missus, what鈥檚 wrong with you?鈥�

There was some sad news too. My mother got a wire. My brother had been sent to France 鈥� he was only 17, he shouldn鈥檛 have been there. She got my father to write to the War Office and give his right age, so he was brought home. But he wasn鈥檛 very pleased. It was a good job, because Dunkirk happened just after. Then he was sent to N Africa, and ma got word he was missing. She never got word he was killed, but a while after I had this dream -I saw this water and a boat with soldiers in it. My brother was in it, they were paddling with shovels.
We had a wile good postman named Paddy McLoughlin, one day he knocked at the door and shouted 鈥淢rs Mac, here鈥檚 a letter from himself!鈥�
It was from my brother, a POW. When he came home from the war, he was taken POW at Tobruk, we asked him and I said about trying to escape from the Italians. He said he and his mates had tried to get away in a wee boat, and used shovels as oars. But they were caught anyway. He was prisoner during the war.

Towards the end of the war my eldest sister, she had 4 kids then, her husband was killed in the Ardennes in January. The war was over in May. In that time, the war to us was far away, except for the men we knew who served.

The first time the siren went off we were out in the yard, my ma said 鈥渢here鈥檚 the fire-engine.鈥� And you said 鈥榠t鈥檚 the siren鈥橶e went over to the neighbours, and all went under a table. After that, when the siren went we didn鈥檛 bother.

The craic was mighty.. The Fountain was just a hive. So many boys were away even though there was no conscription.
One day they marched them all up the Strand. All the 鈥楲ondonderrys鈥�. My uncle was away with the Derrys. We had a wile lot away. Davy, Willie Thompson and a whole lot of cousins away.
A lot never came back.
Our Kate鈥檚 Billy never came back. She was left a widow with 4 kids under 5. She had to stay on with my ma, there was no house for her. She stayed on with mother, and the pension wasn鈥檛 great. It was only in later life she got a pension, the war widows fought for it themselves. But she stayed with my parents, they helped her raise the kids.
The smuggling used to be the real craic.
Our Kathleen had a wee boy in October, and we took him in the pram to Bridgend. Prams in those days had a bit in the middle you could take out, so when the baby got bigger you could sit him up and slip his legs underneath. Well, it became useful for smuggling.The shop in Bridge End, the elderly lady used to give butter and sugar and all. We lifted the middle part and put all the butter in, mattress and baby on top, through customs, not a care in the world.

Etta
===
Mother had a smugglers鈥� apron. A big black covered thing, and you smuggled butter and all. We never wanted, for she went over the border to St Johnson. The man in our Street searched them and took it off them. We called him 鈥淟ord Woolton鈥�, after the Govt Minister. He took everything, he was a bad鈥檜n.

One night my cousin came and we went over on the Buncrana train. I bought nylons, he bought films, he was in the RN. Customs appeared on the train, and we were taken off and searched. The nylons was taken off me and the films off him.We used to go down in our old shoes, throw them away and wear new ones.

We knew these wee young sailors. They used to come out, and we had a good laugh. There were bits of wee鈥檜ns.Down the quay you could have walked from one ship to another.

When I was 14 they started a Girls Training School. I thought I looked great with this uniform on and a wee Glengarry. It was training us for the WAAF or the ATS. We just went for a bit of fun and to dress up in the uniform.

Dora
===
I had my moments too.
I did a lot of work with the Queen Alexandra nursing sisters down in Bangor. We were stationed and looked after them. The army was coming in all the time.
Then I was sent to Carrickfergus, big castle, coming up to D-Day it was packed with soldiers. We had to get up in the middle of the night and go into the bog dark castle and carry the petrol for the big truck to take to D-Day. I was at my truck, like that ...

Then I was in Belfast a lot. Army, RN, RAF were there a lot. I got to know a few. Big Yankee, 鈥淏ig Tex鈥�, he lost his leg in the war.

When the war started we went down Carlisle rd at night to walk. We had no money, really. At the beginning of the war we didn鈥檛 have much.The civilians walked on Bridge st, we walked on the other side with the RN and army.
Civilian lads used to be raging.
My sister wasn鈥檛 allowed to walk on the soldiers鈥� side. She was too young.
The Derry men didn鈥檛 like it, they were jealous.
The dances in the Corinthian were great. You danced around the poles. The jitterbug.
Glenn Miller鈥檚 stuff, the McIntyres from Derry, Fred Robinson played the piano.
One night I entered the singing competition, came third. Fame at last!
We never went out the Beech Hill.
The yanks were v nice to kids, they put on parties.
I only went to 1 dance with the Yanks but TheFleet Air Arm, had dancing down at Eglinton. They put buses on and it was very glamorous indeed.I met a fella out there at Eglinton one night 鈥攈e came by for tea. He said he鈥檇 write, and I鈥檓 still waiting! He got engaged when he was away. So I was jilted! He was Fleet Air Arm, stationed down in Eglinton.

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